Individual privacy is under threat around the world as governments continue introducing surveillance and information-gathering measures, according to an international rights group.

Although privacy was improving in the former communist states of eastern Europe, it is worsening across Western Europe, the report said. Concerns about terrorism, immigration and border security were driving the spread of identity and fingerprinting systems, according to the report.

Greece, Romania and Canada had the best records of 47 countries Privacy International surveyed.

Malaysia, Russia and China ranked worst, but Great Britain and the United States also fell into the lowest-performing group of “endemic surveillance societies.”

The survey considered such factors as legal protections, enforcement, data sharing, the use of biometrics and prevalence of closed-circuit cameras.